Labour minister and Manchester MP Lucy Powell has apologised after remarks she made on child grooming gangs during a BBC radio debate.
The leader of the House of Commons referred to it as a “dog whistle” issue during BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions on Friday after she was asked whether she had seen the Channel Four documentary on grooming gangs
“oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we” and “let’s get that dog whistle out shall we”. she said when confronted by Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie
Powell told the BBC that she regarded child exploitation and grooming with the “utmost seriousness”, adding: “I’m sorry if this was unclear.
”I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself. As a constituency MP I’ve dealt with horrendous cases.”
